MASS. MARRIAGE MEASURE STUFF: From the Boston Globe

...As the convention wound down last Thursday, Senate President Robert E. Travaglini accepted an amendment by state Senator Brian P. Lees, the Senate's Republican leader, that would make only minor changes to the compromise amendment to ban gay marriage and enact civil unions. ...Because the amendment was one of the first in a flurry of last-minute filings, it will be among the first voted on by the House and Senate when lawmakers return March 29. The idea, according to one strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was to force an early vote on the compromise, in the hope of avoiding votes on competing proposals. ...

The proposed amendment, which represents a strategic shift for gay-marriage proponents, also makes it clear that the Legislature has the power to prohibit polygamy and the marriage of close relatives, addressing other concerns that have been raised. And it would allow voters to weigh in on the gay-marriage question, an idea that appears to have widespread support. ...

Two other proposed amendments became public yesterday: One, offered by Representative Paul J.P. Loscocco, a Holliston Republican, would ban same-sex marriage and create civil unions, but would leave it up to the Legislature to define the rights and privileges associated with civil unions. The other, offered by Representative Viriato Maneul deMacedo, a Plymouth Republican, would split the gay-marriage and civil-union questions into two amendments, an idea floated by House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran several weeks ago.

Ronald A. Crews, spokesman for the Coalition for Marriage and a leader in the movement against gay marriage, said his first choice is the Loscocco amendment, but his group could support the deMacedo measure as well.
"To me, that's a much cleaner amendment -- to give the voters a real choice on what to vote on," Crews said. "You can say yes to marriage or no, and you can say yes or no to civil unions."

Arline Isaacson, cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, said gay-marriage supporters are wholeheartedly opposed to the Loscocco and deMacedo amendments. "We oppose bifurcation just as strongly as Loscocco and every other anti-gay amendment," she said. "It is simply and totally unacceptable to take away over 1,000 legal protections from our families and expect us to agree or to like one version of doing that over another version."

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posted by Eve at 6:16 PM | link

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